Environmentalism: a weapon for revolution

[us4israel]

BS"D

From the Archives of ATTAC Report
(available at ATTAC Report Archive: Greenpeace (11/90))

Feel free to discuss this article here, or raise any questions!


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Greenpeace Wages Redwar

(The New American, Nov. 19, 1990)

Because of the growing environmentalist fad of the last few years, much of the public has invested nearly blind faith in organizations claiming to play David to the Goliath of environmental exploitation. Among the leading beneficiaries of this public trust has been the international activist organization Greenpeace. The group began with a 1971 protest against US testing of nuclear weapons, which it followed up with an attempt to physically block French nuclear testing in 1972 by sailing a boat too close to the testing area. Similar actions were carried out during the early 1970s, and Greenpeace offices were opened in several European nations. Restructuring in 1983 took the organization away from its previous broadly-based democratic structure, effectively concentrating policy control in the hands of a small international board; in the United States, all Greenpeace offices were united into a single national headquarters.

Greenpeace today boasts offices in some 22 countries, and has expanded its activities to include a variety of environmental issues. The group’s efforts to propagate its views to the press and the public, closely tied to its fundraising efforts, include confrontational tactics such as physically damaging property and blocking the efforts of whalers, sealers, and industrial producers. These “direct actions” are not peaceful, but instead nonviolent — Greenpeace seeks to provoke violent reactions from its targets, so as not to receive blame for using violence themselves.

An editorial in the March/April Greenpeace admitted that the true goal of environmentalism is “a natural world free of human impact.” If people wish to reserve room for themselves in this world, they will need to begin questioning the environmentalist claims of the government, the mass media, and organizations such as Greenpeace.

 

[parrotgal]

You put up an article from 1990? Why on earth talk about something from the dark ages? Besides not one of the 'false claims' is accurate.

Why don't you go to the Sea Shepherd and read the articles there about what is really happening now, in the 21st century, today with Japan and Greenpeace. Do your research and be current with your articles for the sake of the whales, seals and the truth.


No Peace with Greenpeace it Seems

Commentary by Captain Paul Watson - Founder and President of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

So despite the fact that in 31 years Sea Shepherd has never caused a single injury to a single person nor have we sustained any serious injuries, and despite the fact that His Holiness the Dalai Lama supports Sea Shepherd, Greenpeace continues to push their myth that Sea Shepherd is a violent organization.

Sea Shepherd has never rammed any Japanese whaling ships in the Southern Ocean although we have been rammed by the Japanese and they have accused us of ramming them which by the way is exactly what has happened with Greenpeace. They also have been involved with collisions with Japanese whalers for which Japan has accused them of being responsible for the ramming.

According to the Japanese whalers Greenpeace is a violent organization.

Why? Because we threw some rotten butter onto the decks of a whale killing ship?

There is no use in continuing to work towards cooperation I suppose. Greenpeace has forgotten the meaning of the word peace and has chosen to concentrate on the green as in money and getting as much of it into the Greenpeace coffers as possible.

Last year Greenpeace bought all the online ad space in all the large Australian and New Zealand newspapers in addition to television commercials to milk twenty times the revenues from the public than was actually spent on any of the campaigns to protect the whales. You spent a few weeks taking some pictures and then fled the scene, with your token annual appearance done for another year.

Paul Watson: 'There's no rest on planetary duty'

Paul Watson has devoted his life to fighting back against those who despoil the seas - but is he a prophet or a pirate? Tim Ecott meets a controversial crusader

His record, however, speaks for itself. One of the original founders of Greenpeace in 1969, he left in 1977 because "the organisation got taken over by bureaucrats".

Part of Watson's grievance was that Greenpeace was less inclined to use direct action against whalers. Although proud that his membership number was 007, he called Greenpeace "the Avon ladies of the environment movement".

Watson and his mostly volunteer crews brave storms and ice-packs, hostile governments and illegal fishing vessels. He has rammed seven ships and scuttled another eight, and come under fire several times. But he has never been convicted of any crime.

Sea Shepherd is careful to act in accordance with the UN Charter for Nature, which allows for the enforcement of international law "by nations, non-governmental organisations and individuals". Watson is clear that everything he does is sanctioned under international maritime law.

Legal or not, Sea Shepherd's tactics include bombarding whaling crews with smoke bombs and slabs of rancid butter. The butter makes the decks too slippery to work upon, but Japanese whaling crews have described the substance as "acid".

There's a lot more to know and it's what's happening NOW, not in 1990.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Hate to break it to ya, but man is an Omnivore. It is unhealthy to not eat meat of any kind. Vegans have to jump through hoops to stay health on that diet.

As for Whales.... I don't think we should be hunting them anymore. I know Japan doesn't need to hunt them. If he weren't a vegan and I weren't a diabetic I wouldn't mind going to sea with Sea Shepperd. Of course I get pretty ill pretty quick at sea. Would need a lot of patches on a small ship.

He has one thing absolutely right, If you are going to take money for a cause, You better be damn clear what the money is spent on. Greenpeace has a vested interest in making money. They are corrupted.

 

[Charles_Main]

Hate to break it to ya, but man is an Omnivore. It is unhealthy to not eat meat of any kind. Vegans have to jump through hoops to stay health on that diet.

That might be why Veggies are on the decline already. All you need to do is look at our teeth, we were meant to eat both meat and veggies.

 

[Abelian Sea]

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[thefuelfilm]

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[musicfreak313]

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[Zoomie1980]

BS"D

From the Archives of ATTAC Report
(available at ATTAC Report Archive: Greenpeace (11/90))

Feel free to discuss this article here, or raise any questions!


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Greenpeace Wages Redwar

(The New American, Nov. 19, 1990)

The French should have simply launched the Nukes anyway and took them out. That's how you deal the Greenpeaces of the world. They go into a "combat zone" you simply ignore them and they never go back. Same things with Porto Rican civilians laying around on the the US Navy weapons range. Launch the weapons, take them out, and they'll all stay away the next time....works REALLY well.

 

[Epsilon Delta]

The French should have simply launched the Nukes anyway and took them out. That's how you deal the Greenpeaces of the world. They go into a "combat zone" you simply ignore them and they never go back. Same things with Porto Rican civilians laying around on the the US Navy weapons range. Launch the weapons, take them out, and they'll all stay away the next time....works REALLY well.

Holy fuck, how can anybody say something like that? What a wacko!

---

So, is this a thread just for ragging on environmental issues? Well, Greenpeace itself, I don't know. It might be corrupt. Any institutional structure has the possibility of becoming corrupt. But that doesn't take away from at least some of the issues they advocate, which don't seem to be the focus of the thread.

On its official website, Greenpeace defines its mission as the following:

Greenpeace is a global campaigning organization that acts to change attitudes and behaviours, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace by:

-Catalysing an energy revolution to address the number one threat facing our planet: climate change.
-Defending our oceans by challenging wasteful and destructive fishing, and creating a global network of marine reserves.
-Protecting the world’s remaining ancient forests and the animal, plants and people that depend on them.
-Working for disarmament and peace by reducing dependence on finite resources and calling for the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
-Creating a toxic free future with safer alternatives to hazardous chemicals in today's products and manufacturing.
-Campaigning for sustainable agriculture by encouraging socially and ecologically responsible farming practices.

I mean, say what you will about global warming, but do you guys seriously believe that we can keep covering the earth with garbage, and pumping waste in the sea and the air forever with absolutely no consequences? I dunno guys, call me naive, but I take a look at fumes coming out of factories, or beaches filled with garbage, or whatever, and think "Can that just keep going on forever and just be perfectly safe? Surely all that crap is going somewhere. I mean, there's almost 7 billion of us (and counting) shitting every day, eatings tons of stuff everyday, drinking and using a lot more water than gets naturally replenished, eating lotsa fishes (to the point that most major fisheries are collapsing or expected to collapse). Surely this must have SOME sort of consequence, right? Don't most people agree with that nowadays?

And I know how you guys feel about Nuclear Weapons, but sometimes I can't help but be a little scared. Maybe it's an unfounded fear. but I've just never been comfortable with the self-destruct option. Call me what you'd like, but the total annihilation of all life just makes me feel 'queasy'.

As for vegetarianism, I can't agree more that we were meant to eat meat. I believe meat is delicious, nutritious, and healthy, and should be available to everyone. But... at the same time, in the past few weeks I've come to realize that I might have to become a vegetarian or at least cut back on meat consumption. The shitty thing with meat has nothing to do with the "inhumane" treatment of cows or personal health, but the fact that it has so many other bad side effects. Basically, every pound of meat you eat needs ten times the amount of grain/food. To grow all that food, you need more space (and remember that the more of us, the more cows we need, and the more food we need for both us AND the cows/pigs/goats/etc). And this is gonna raise the price of food. And if not, you still need even more land for grazing, and of course where's the land gonna come from, now that you're using all the land to grow food for people? They just cut down all the forests (and that's another thing I'm sure most people would be against... I mean, at some point they're gonna run out, right? There sure used to be a lot more trees before, and now there's fewer and fewer... considering that they make life on the planet possible I'd say it's sensible to, every now and again, give it a thought). The worst part is that this applies to a bunch of other things. The energy we waste, the stuff we throw away... on a number of things that are fun or economically useful.

I guess the main point I'm trying to make is that sure, meat is tasty, and sure fishing and construction and factories, those might all be outstanding engines of economic growth. Millions of people depend on this sort of thing for their livelihood, fishing, logging, car-making, etc... That is all well and true. At the same time, there's a cost to it. That steak/SUV/etc. might look just great, but there's a hidden cost and there must be some consequences. Whether you think it's worth the cost or not is a whole different issue. You just have to keep in mind that we have quite a bill waiting for us once the feast is over.

 

[editec]

We ought to blow whalers out of the fucking water.

I'd freaking arm GREEPEACE vessels if I had my way and declare whalers criminals against humanity.

Put a bounty on the bastards, and hang 'em from the yardarms, says Cpt'n editec

There's something mighty wierd happening to the squid populations off the coast of California folks, and I suspect it has to do with the diminishing whale populations.

Very agressive, pack hunting 100lb squid, beasties which formerly only lived in the Sea of Cortez, are now raiding fishing areas off the whole West coast far up as Alaska according to reports I recently heard.

You fall in the water when they're in a feeding frenzy and you're on the menu.

They're so aggressive that sharks flee the scene when they show up.

And what eats them?

Whales.

 

[DiamondDave]

editec... Whales are not humans... it is not a crime against humanity...

And arming Greenpeace?? LMFAO

 

[thefuelfilm]

Hey,
The Sundance Audience Award Winning film FUEL, which is about how we
get off foreign oil, is now playing in Bend, Seattle, and Yelm.